World of Taroo

by Jimmy Eriksson

  The baker’s son suddenly began to be able to move his upper body as it had been healed and Gon was very surprised as to how it was possible. There were others that screamed out what they saw in other places in the school. Gon looked at the young man and saw his eyes were empty. Sophia was upset to see him being one of those attacking them and Gon asked her to look away. He killed the son of the baker with a sword he picked up from the ground, which he stuck through his head. The man stopped moving and Gon then looked over the training ground that was filled of bodies.

  Some of the students hurried to stab the attackers in the head to stop everyone from moving. They were shocked about what had happened but not a single person believed they did anything other than protect the school and everyone in it. Gon asked how many were injured or killed and a total of forty-three students had lost their lives that day. Mostly young and inexperienced had seized to draw breath. Some were injured badly and were looked after immediately.

  When looking closer at the dead soldiers, he recognised several of them. There were both women and men that were clearly not soldiers mixed with the regular soldiers. He realised that there were very few actual soldiers there, and almost all of them were regular people that lived in the castle. So many too young or too old were amongst the dead inside of the school. Gon felt sadness that this had happened and how his friends in the kingdom had changed that much that they decided to attack the school. Not knowing if more soldiers would come back, Gon made a decision that he never thought he would make. He told everyone that they must leave and move to another location until it was safe again. He hoped it would be soon he would return back to the land but could not take the chance of more people attacking them.

  A few horses were standing outside of the complex with a look of death over them. They acted strange and the feeling of danger from them made Gon take the decision to have them put down. The order to burn the dead came uneasy but it needed to be done as Gon felt it was the right thing to do. Outside the complex, a deep pit had been dug up to collect much water a long time ago, but since it had not rained for a while, nothing was in it.

  Wame, who had shown to be the leader Gon knew when he started to instruct him, took it upon himself to be in charge of the burning and brought many people with him. They filled the pit with bodies of the dead soldiers and chopped down trees, that they fill in the hole with both at the bottom as well as top. Barrels of highly ignitable fluid used for the torches were broken above the pit. The content ran down to cover everything and also created a smell that was stinging the eyes of those standing too close. The fire was so intense that no one left the safety of the walls until it died down a little. The fire filled the already dark sky and preparations for the people inside the school to leave were now in full speed.

  Gon had, during the years, built several secret compartments to hide gold and jewels inside. Also scrolls that told stories about his life and the school were put in there. In the morning after the attack, when the door had been repaired, the students stood all lined up outside. Some of them had decided to leave with the people that were hiding in the mountain. The daughters had a hard time packing and leaving from their home. Gon was bringing what he thought he would need and met the pupils at the training ground. He got a happy surprise after he thanked them for being members of his school and asked them to continue his teachings. He had told them they were welcome back when it all was safe again. Almost all of those still at the school had talked to each other and told Gon that they would not leave him. They wished to travel with him as a group and many of them, he knew, had no one else.

  Gon became the leader of the then 324 members of his school that would follow him towards a new location. They would try to stay away from the Grasoll land’s soldiers, and hoped that they either woke up or were defeated by another force. Before they all walked, they made sure that those that had lost their lives got a funeral. A separate fire was lit and Gon felt like he had lost many friends all of a sudden. They finally began to leave and only brought what they needed with them. In the beginning, it went slow as they must be ready to retreat if anyone was seen coming towards them. But after walking for a few hours, Gon and his daughters could look back towards their home and no one had so far been seen to be a threat to them.

  They wondered if they would ever see the school again. Some of the pupils had stayed and would care for the school as long as they could. Gon looked at his girls that smiled at him and he felt he was happy he had been able to protect them. They had set off on the same old carriage that first got Gon to the kingdom. They would use a different path out from the land through the mountains and hope they could avoid the new evil army. The path was small due to newly raised earth being there but none of the Grasoll soldiers were seen going that way. Gon was wondering if he made the right decision to leave but didn’t know if the soldiers would came back for them again. When the land eventually disappeared from his view, he got an uneasy feeling that travelled through his body. Walking then, he felt the future was not going to be easy from then on.

  Domoro Land Assault

  Jay was beside Kemi and they both were looking straight ahead. The army behind them was walking with empty eyes and had their sight only on the road ahead. They were walking through the land and said nothing as they walked. Only when they passed a village they said something and some troops were deployed to catch whoever was in the village. The word of what had happened travelled fast in the land and many had left to escape what was coming. The villages in the land close to the kingdom had been almost emptied and only some older people had been unable to leave. The captured people that had stayed got stabbed and then infected by the shadow stone.

  Usually, the soldiers entered the village and attacked the villagers to wound them enough then make them come with them. No one was excepted and young to old were being captured. Even the children not left became part of the army but were seated in the wagons to become soldiers in the future. There were those too remote from others that never got the news about what happened and became part of the all growing evil army. The soldiers swept the land in front of them and some departed further away. Many resisted but in the end, the soldiers always brought more people. The road was clear to Kemi when she had spoken to the advisors and high soldiers that gave her advice. The Alumrylite stones were the keys to becoming the most powerful force in Taroo. They were headed to the kingdom of Ocenia as they had ships that were big enough to carry them over the ocean towards Redonia.

  The people of Ocenia would greatly increase the numbers in her army. One of the high officers said the kingdom of Ocenia was considered neutral but had many machines that could make trouble for them. Kemi told the soldiers they must enter and convert the whole kingdom of Ocenia to become soldiers in their army. She was fully aware that even if she knew she and the soldiers were stronger still they would need the number of soldiers to fight against Amaya. The kingdom of Redonia did not have the biggest army but easily the strongest with their magic. She would have trouble to beat them then and needed her army to grow bigger. They would head straight for the Ocenian kingdom and take it over.

  Kemi was confident she could win with the magical stone that seemed to keep them alive when they should be dead. After coming to the forest separating them from the lands they saw six men on horses. They were wearing clothes from the kingdom of Ocenia’s army. Kemi stopped the army and knew why they were there. Jay said perhaps the word had reached the kingdom and they knew they were coming. She sent a couple of soldiers to meet with the men. When they came back, the soldiers told her the kingdom of Ocenia’s soldiers would like to know where they were headed. She told Jay to wait with the army and then talked to one of the higher soldiers that rode further back.

  Kemi gave some instructions to a couple of soldiers and then they rode up to the kingdom of Ocenia’s soldiers. As soon as she came up to them, she could see they had fear in their eyes. They could see she had changed and her presence scared them. She smiled and asked them
what the problem was. One of the soldiers said he had heard she was under a spell and was recruiting soldiers that were more dead than alive to join her army. They were afraid she would enter their land and break the neutral ground that had been there for hundreds of years.

  Kemi looked at them and rode slowly around them saying, as she rode, that there was no reason to be afraid. She told them she guaranteed the truce would stay clear between them. She also asked them if they feared her and the soldiers looked at each other then one of them said, with a little stutter, they did not. She stopped and said they should and as soon as she said that, an arrow penetrated the head of the soldier. The others looked around and drew their swords but two more got shot down and then the soldiers that came with her attacked the remaining three. The kingdom of Ocenia’s soldiers were outnumbered and had to try to escape but one more got killed. They rushed towards Kemi to try and kill her but she showed no fear and sat still on her horse. When they came close, both got shot by several arrows hitting them.

  One of the Ocenian soldiers hit by arrows in the beginning of the fight was crawling on the ground towards the forest. Kemi descended her horse and walked up to the injured soldier. She picked up the sword he had dropped and held it in front of her as she walked. He did an attempt to kill her and stabbed her in the heart with a small knife. He sat on his knees looking with big eyes as Kemi simply pulled the knife out from her body like it was nothing. She told the soldier that she would soon kill everyone he knew then raise the sword. She stabbed the sword into his head, causing much blood to spray over her then walked back to her horse. The magic stone was brought up and changed some of the soldiers that were not killed.

  Kemi could see the soldiers were confused when they stood up again but she only needed to give them an order and they fell in line with the others. She knew that those killed through the head would not rise again so she would not be able to raise two of the Ocenian men. She didn’t care how many soldiers she had because she was confident she would win in the end anyway. They entered the forest and filled it with noises of marching feet and horses that breathed heavy in the night. Jay’s head was cloudy but he still remembered the last time he was in the forest and the bandits that were there then. He doubted they would be there now and soon after the memory of the bandits slowly disappeared from his mind and became a blur.

  After walking through the forest, they finally came out and met the morning sun. They were just coming to the bottom of a hill when suddenly, several men appeared on the top of the hill. They, as well, were soldiers of the Ocenian army and Kemi continued on as if nothing happened like they weren’t seen. She told the high officers walking next to her she that believed the kingdom of Ocenia was waiting for them. Soon after she said that they could see it for themselves when they came past the hill and into an open area. They walked into view of thousands of soldiers waiting for them there. This time, Kemi stopped and looked over the land. She was actually surprised of what she could see.

  The kingdom of Ocenia had never revealed themselves to be ready to fight and always asked to be left alone to be neutral in any struggle. No one ever attacked them as they always were able to offer gifts to the kingdoms around them and sell material cheap. The land was also considered to be of more calm land than eager for power. She was looking out over the kingdom of Ocenia’s army then and saw them in a different way. Before her was a very large army equipped with some machines she never laid eyes on. She was well-aware of the knowledge of the Ocenian engineers that could produce amazing machines. The son of King Tambo, Prince Grummel had proven to bring incredible ideas to life. She could see the soldiers were ready to strike and one of the soldiers from the army rode towards her. He stopped short of the army and told her she would have to leave or face the full force of the kingdom of Ocenia. She smirked and told the soldier to ride back and await his death because it would come soon.

  The soldier rode back and Kemi told the soldiers to stand in war formation. She had a large army and even if it was not as big as the kingdom of Ocenia, she knew that the magical stone would wake anyone that fell back to life again. She expected to get a constant new supply of soldiers every time an Ocenia soldier fell. She would bring the enemy to life and they would fight for her to eventually take down the whole kingdom. She waited no longer and ordered the men to march forward. She saw King Tambo had also come out to meet her and he stood next to a few high officers. She looked at the older man and thought he would be soon following her like a dog just like the rest of them. She could see a man next to King Tambo who was holding a spear and it was raised high. The attack was powerful and quick from the soldiers of Ocenia after the spear was put down into the ground.

  Many soldiers fired arrows from a distance never achieved by any other kingdom and filled the air. The bows they were using were strong and made of a material not found elsewhere than in the land close to the ocean. The arrows hit the soldiers that fell down but to King Tambo’s surprise, they rose up again. The tainted army continued on and the arrows kept falling from the sky. Kemi laughed as the arrows had no effect on them unless if they were hit in the head and only a few went down. She ordered the first line of men to walk faster and take the land from the people. She knew she had to come closer if she was to use the shadow stone as she did before and then she would be too far away.

  When the spear next to King Tambo was pulled up, the arrows stop coming and the Ocenian army stood still. Jay wondered why and looked at the defending army. Even if he lost some of his individuality he could still feel when something was up and stopped going forward to watch what was about to take place. There was a noise coming from underneath and there were shakings in the ground. The men in the front never had the time to react but suddenly, the ground disappeared underneath them. There was a wide crack opening and many of the soldiers fell in. There were about 200 people then in the wide hole in the ground.

  Kemi stopped and wondered what was going on. She knew they wouldn’t stop and they could try whatever they wanted so the hole didn’t worry her. Any soldier that fell in the hole began to climb up again. Kemi laughed at the pathetic attempt to stop them but soon realised the power of the kingdom of Ocenia. She could hear a horn from the other side and several machines were pulled up to the front lines. They loaded them with something and very fast sent away barrels that landed in the hole. There were about fifteen of them coming and all hit their target that was the big hole. Another horn sound came and Kemi then saw the prince himself walking up to the last machine. He had a torch with him that he lit a barrel with and then pulled a lever. The barrel came flying from it that was completely on fire and Jay, who was standing close, was racing back to tell everyone to retreat.

  When the barrel that fell into the hole broke inside, an incredible explosion came. The edge of the hole was blown off and anyone standing too close to the hole got burned. Kemi looked at the intense fire that followed and then knew the kingdom of Ocenia would not be easy to beat. The explosion took out a few more soldiers too close to the hole and injured many. She looked at the other side and could see the other machines pointing in their direction. They had many canons that pointed towards her army and she saw the effect of them as they started to fire. The ground on where they hit took out at least thirty-seven soldiers that were permanently dead or seriously injured. She didn’t want to retreat but knew she had to find another way since the Ocenian army was too far away for the magic stone.

  With such firepower displayed by the Ocenian army, Kemi felt she had to find a way to take over the kingdom. She wanted those weapons and would have to think of a new way to get in. She had to pull back for now since it was obvious she risked losing if she pushed on. She told everyone to draw back to the forest and they left with an idea of how strong the neutral kingdom actually was. King Tambo looked at his enemy that was retreating and told the men next to him that they need to send letters to everyone about what they had seen. He turned to his son and thanked him for creating the weapons for the kingdo
m. He had not been always happy for his son to build machines or weapons since he was the heir to the throne. He had then a new appreciation for what his son had achieved and every one of the soldiers cheered for a battle where no one had to die.

  The king ordered the soldiers to search the land to make sure Kemi would leave and to kill any soldier that might have survived the blast. Where the site for the explosion was there were a few of Kemi’s soldiers that still drew breath. There were some badly hurt but incredibly, they were alive still. Their bodies seemed to heal but slowly so the Ocenian soldiers had no problem executing them on the spot. The hole burned still and any of Kemi’s soldier that were found dead or alive were thrown inside of the blaze. The tainted men and women didn’t look like soldiers but it didn’t matter anymore.

  The Water Stone

  Kemi was angry with herself that she underestimated the resistance of the kingdom of Ocenia. She then had to find another way of getting more soldiers and ships to fight in Redonia. She led the army across a valley and there was no one left in the houses as everyone had fled. When they walked, she suddenly thought of something and called the advisors and high priests up to her. She asked again about the magical stones and told them to go through them. When they had talked for a while, she asked where they thought the water stone could be. The priests said Amaya probably did not have it as he would have used it against them and there was no other kingdom that had ever mentioned about anything like it before.